Singapore ramps up e-waste programme

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Singapore’s first mainstream e-waste recycling programme is expanding after only five months of operation, announced local telecommunications and cable provider StarHub on Tuesday.

StarHub will add 34 electronic waste collection bins to the five that it had set up at its service centres to celebrate Earth Hour in March.

Local recycling firm TES-AMM will collect e-waste from the new bins, which will be placed at schools, community centres and private condominiums around the island this month.

“Although e-waste is one of the most toxic waste products of all, limited avenues exist for consumers to responsibly discard their old electronic products,” said StarHub CSR manager Adam Reutens-Tan in a statement.

“We wanted to drive consumer recycling of e-waste by making it more convenient for them to find somewhere to recycle their e-waste,” he added.

However, choosing the right locations was a learning process, he told Eco-Business in a phone interview.

While the programme has collected more than 1,480 tonnes of e-waste so far, much of it has been dominated by a single centre at Plaza Singapura on Orchard Road.

Four out of five of the existing locations are in the central business district, and there is no explanation as to why some work better than others, said Mr Reutens-Tan, who has started giving awareness-raising talks at the schools involved to boost participation.